Mansion Where Cultists Died Is Sold at Bargain Price

RANCHO SANTA FE, Calif. —  The mansion in which 39 members of a religious cult committed suicide 2 1/2 years ago has quietly been sold for what an official called the bargain price of $668,000, it was disclosed Friday.

According to records in the San Diego County assessor’s office, the property was sold in June to a local developer, William Strong.

Gary Fairbanks, division chief in the assessor’s office, said the land alone had been assessed at $1.4 million. “But . . . if at any time you have a stigma on the property, it will affect the value,” he said.

Along with their leader, Marshall Applewhite, members of the Heaven’s Gate cult took their lives by swallowing a mixture of barbiturates and vodka in March 1997. They left a video indicating that their suicides were an attempt to shed their earthly “containers” so they could reach a UFO trailing the Hale-Bopp comet.

The nine-bedroom, seven-bathroom house is on 3.1 acres amid what is considered some of the most expensive real estate in the country.

Fairbanks called the selling price a bargain. “It’s a sweeping site,” he said. “You can see all the way to the ocean. If the site were by itself, we believe it would be worth every bit of $1.4 million.”

The man who rented the mansion to Heaven’s Gate, local businessman Sam Koutchesfahani, was sent to prison last year for conspiracy and tax evasion. Seattle-based Washington Mutual took the property over through foreclosure and sold it to Strong.